The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1887-09-13
THE FAULT OF FARMERS.

farmers in our Territory generally may
be, they have one great fault: Ihey
will get in debt. If statement were
made of the Indebtedness of farms and
farmers in this country, it would be
something appalling. Let each farmer
put the question to himself IN this
light: If, from any cause, my crop
should fail this year how could meet
nv obligations without risking the loss
of my homer How many can 7ay they
are free from debt. In numberless in
stances almost every piece OF machinery
is bonded for the sum or part OF the
sum which it cost, and by the time the
amount has been paid with interest, the
probabilities are that new machine
will be required. If it were not that the
credit of our farmers were unequalled'
they would not be so far IN debt. Inc
men now glad to sell machines on time
would refuse fatty to sell for anything
but cash or for the most ample secur-
ity. were farming Improbable. One
prominent gentlemen in this city whose
business is almost exclusively among
the farming classes, has stated that the
interest paid him by farmers on their
notes to him for machine, not only
covered all his losses-or paid all DIS
bad debts-but it also paid the interest
on the money he himself borrowed and
then left MIN neat margin besides.
The motto of a banker Well-knoW
here, 1T is against my principles TO
pay interest and against my interests to
pay the principal" is good gospel Tor
the farmer. Perhaps, in no other coun-
try in the world could farmers exist and
be so improvident. A good I any men
say that farming does not pay, that the
poor farmer is worked TO death for a llY
ing and so on. That the farmer Is re-
suired to work hard no one will deny,
but the thing we complain Of is that the
farmer does not work to support him
self alone, but helps to support a null
titude of others who are not producers
in the sense that he is. You never buy
r wagon or a ma chine on what is called
''time" without giving heavy interest on
It. Interest is usury on mans lie
on that which is a free gift from the
Almighty. Better the old pillow, a
patched-up wagon and harness, five
year-oId reaper and mower, and the
peace of mind and satisfaction of heart
given by the consciousness that the
things about you are your own than
the best of machinery which is not your
own. and a mortgage on life that is
uncertain or on your toll of life be given
YOU. N ew machinery is good, but to
be free from debt is infinitely better.
In an agricultural magazine recently
a correspondent boosted that he had
kept and used a hayrake for twenty-five
wears, and that it was still capable of
service. It would be safe to wager that
the man who could truthfully say this
was notin debt for his machinery; that
his home, farm and implements were
his own; and we will warrant that man
never complained that farming did not
nav. # it were not for the unbounded
blessings which have been poured out
upon 5farmers En- this community
their improvidence would have brought
them to infinite woe, and they would
have found it as difficult to buy ION
time" as it now is to pursuade dealers
in farm goods that you ought not to
buy on time.
"Ny aste" and want, are inter
ehangeable terms in many senses; and
thew are of wonderfully synonymous
import when applied to farmers. A lit
tie lumber that may be bought for
trifie, the labo- of two or three days. or
less, in the spring, or fall, or even
winter, will produce shed to protect
the farm wagon and machinery
from the destructive agencies of heat,
cold and wet. There is infinitely more
money in taking care of the machinery
one has than in the buying Of new.
That farmer is poor, and will be poor to
the end of his days Cf he has to work
for Iiving) who cannot find time to
cover his machinery in the winter, and
to put it in the shade during the
summer when it is not being used.
Destruction by wear is nothing COM
nared to destruction by carelessness.
To the bounty of nature and the conse-
ouent improvidenee of farmers is due
the heavy interest which farmers are
now compelled to pay on machinery
that would be unnecessary were
reasonable care exercised. Let the
farmer note the interest he has paid on
machinery in the last ten years and
think how much money he has foolishly
given away, that he could have saved.
John Randolph, once astonished
members in Congress by loudly an
nouncing in his peculiar voice, II have
discovered the philosophers stone !'-
the stone which olden dreamers sought